Faux Wood Beam Finish, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara
Purple Painting wire brushed the new interior beams of a Santa Barbara home by hand, then built an aged-wood finish in layers of stain base, stain, glaze and two coats of clear, as part of a new-construction paint package for the general contractor John Lambe Construction.
- Type
- Residential
- Location
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Client
- John Lambe Construction, General Contractor
- Completed
- 2026
New interior beams in a Santa Barbara home, finished to look like aged wood as part of a larger new-construction paint package for the general contractor John Lambe Construction. We wire brushed every beam by hand to raise and open the grain, so the stain would catch the texture of the wood.
We built the finish in layers: a stain base, stain, glaze and a clear coat, then two coats of clear to protect it. We sampled and layered the finish until it read as aged wood, not new lumber. The beams took about a week.
How we did it
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Prep the beams before installation
The beams were finished before they went up, which makes the layered coats easier to apply evenly.
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Wire brush the grain
Each beam was wire brushed by hand on its visible sides to match the texture of the existing wood, opening the grain so the stain catches.
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Apply the stain base coat
A base coat of stain set the colour of the aged wood.
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Seal, then glaze
One coat of clear sealed the stain, then a custom glaze added depth of colour.
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Finish with clear coats
Two final coats of clear protect the finish.
